


Cleaved

by KioBowden



Category: Star vs. The Forces Of Evil
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-23
Updated: 2017-01-31
Packaged: 2018-09-19 11:30:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9438278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KioBowden/pseuds/KioBowden
Summary: Star and Marco go on adventures across different dimensions, but one adventure changes the pair forever, leaving them facing an old foe and possibly themselves.





	1. Origins

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my first fanfiction I already have chapters posted on another site and it has gotten good reviews so I thought I would see what you guys think. I hope you like it, feel free to leave a comment and I apologize i am in school right now so i am not sure how often I will be posting. I hope you guys enjoy the story though.

Marco looked at the locker right in front of him. It was just like his locker at school; in fact it was his school locker. It had the indent from where Marco leaned on it every morning waiting for Jackie Lynn Thomas. He reached for the combination lock but stopped.   
“I forgot my combination:, he said to himself breaking into a cold sweat. He looked at the lock again only to see that it had disappeared. However, before he could question it the locker door flew open. Inside filling up the locker were purple hearts, much like the ones that Star grew during her Mewberty phase. He reached out to the hearts and before he could touch them they flew away. Then he saw himself. Another Marco was standing in his locker, dressed in a suit that looked really familiar. His double opened his eyes, scaring Marco and causing him to fall backwards. His double opened his mouth to speak and out came   
Beep, Beep, Beep

“What?”

His double started walking out of the locker, staring at him. 

Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep

Marco gasped as he opened his eyes. It took him a full five seconds to realize that it had just been a dream, and that the beeping was coming from his alarm clock. He turned the alarm off and sighed. Rubbing the sweat from his forehead he thought about his dream. It wasn’t the first time he had had that dream. Always the same, he woke up not knowing where he was. He would find a rabid star chewing on a belt, and then he would find another Marco in his locker filled with purple hearts. Usually the dream continued to his friends flying away with red balloons before he had a chance to fly to them a red moon appeared. 

He didn’t know what the dream meant, or why he kept having it. Maybe it was stress getting to him; but he didn’t really have anything to stress about, except for his roommate. Princess Star Butterfly, next in line to be queen of her home dimension, Mewni, was somewhat of a wildchild. She was sent to Earth after burning down the royal castle. Her parents thought that it would be safer for Star to learn magic on Earth where monsters wouldn’t attack her. Also the fact that someone else's property was getting destroyed was a plus. 

Unfortunately their plan didn’t work out. During her move a monster tracked her to Earth, after reporting to his boss, a short vulture like monster named Ludo, Star and Marco were often payed a visit by unwelcomed guests. But thanks to Stars magic wand, a family heirloom that Ludo has his sights on, and Marco’s karate skills they were easily able to defeat the uncoordinated monsters. The fact that she was in constant danger from attacks, and that she often traveled to dangerous dimensions, caused Marco to worry about her. After she had settled into his house, and after destroying his room, and restoring it a portal had opened up in his room. 

The only other time he had seen a portal was when Ludo and his monsters had left after getting their butts kicked. So as the portal opened he swore to himself and prepared for a fight. Instead of a monster crawling through an armed guard dressed in full battle armor and holding a staff walked through. The man said nothing as he checked Marco’s room making sure that all was clear. He remained silent as he walked over to the door and closed it. Only then did he look at Marco, he cleared his throat.

“His highness, King Butterfly requests a conference with you.” Before Marco could even think about a reply a short man, about 5. 2’ walked through the portal. The first thing that Marco noticed about the man, and it wasn’t just because the knight had announced it, was the fact that the man looked regal. He was wearing a light blue shirt, which was adorned by a cape. While the man was short he looked sturdy, almost as if a truck could hit him and he wouldn’t budge an inch. Two other things caught his attention. The first was the silver staff the man held. Reaching a good two feet above the man it was a simple silver staff, with a small sapphire on the bottom. On the top was stone, too blue to be saphire, Marco determined. It was in the shape of a crescent moon, with a small star attached to the middle of it. The other thing that Marco noticed was the crown resting on top of the man’s head. If anything else about his outfit didn’t scream royalty the crown certainly did,

Not sure as to what to do Marco just stood there in silence as the man surveyed his surroundings. His gaze rested on Marco’s laptop for a second before focusing in on the poster of Marco’s favorite movie Hands of Karate. The man moved across the room and sat on Marco’s bed.

Once he had settled down King Butterfly looked at the shocked boy. ‘Better get on with this’ the king thought.

“I am sure you are wondering who I am and why I am here?” The boy just nodded, unable to fully speak yet. “You have no doubt met my daughter Star,”

“Wait you are Stars dad?” Marco asked recovering his ability to speak. That would explain the royal look of the man in front of him. Marco sat down at his desk turning the chair to face the king. He felt as if he was in an important meeting, he probably was i mean why else would a king travel across dimensions just to talk to him? For a split second Marco wondered if he had done something wrong to warrant this visit; but he quickly dismissed it. If the king was here to arrest him he would have surely done so by now. 

“Yes I am. As to why I am here, I have a favor to ask of you.” Marco straighten up curiosity rising in him. What favor would a king need him for. Certainly he had hundreds of servants he could order to do whatever he wanted to. 

“I need you to look after Star. She needs a guide while she is here on Earth, and she needs someone to protect her.”

Marco blinked, “wait wait wait. How am I going to protect her? Wouldn’t she be better off with an armed guard, I mean I’m just one kid.”

The king smiled, “I have seen what you can do. I figured there would be those who would want to take Star’s wand, thinking that a teenage girl would be no match for them. That’s why I sent a scout to make sure that she was safe and after that battle i knew that she was. You may be one boy, and while your fighting skills may not be the greatest, you are brave and I see that you care about her.” 

Again Marco blinked, he realized that he did care about Star, while he may have just met her he felt a need to protect her. She seemed innocent, and she had worked so hard to make him feel better after destroying his room. But he had also never been called brave. He had never had a chance to prove himself and he recognized the fact that the king was giving him that chance, albeit it was for the king’s gain as much as Marco’s. The stocky man continued.

“Now I am well aware of the danger that you may face and the trouble that Star can cause so I am willing to pay you for her protection.” Immediately Marco started objecting, despite the dangers that her presence may cause, Marco was going to protect Star because he wanted to, not because he was being paid to. 

The man stopped him before Marco could protest too much. “It is very honorable of you boy, but unnecessary. You will be reimbursed for your troubles in any way that you wish. What is it that you want? Gold, land, a knight-ship, or perhaps a servant? We can get anyone that you like you are of that age so if you so wish we would give you your own concubines…”

“Whoa whoa t-that… won’t, heh, be n-necessary,” Marco stammered out, sweating nervously. He was fourteen and while he had been having those thoughts and those urges, the thought of having a slave to… satisfy him as the king said was unthinkable. 

“Alright then,” the king smiled at the boys honorability. Not many would pass up the chance for riches or a knighthood. The king knew that the boy could be trusted, and while he wished to have an entire army to protect his daughter, he knew that they must remain subtle and not draw too much attention to themselves. The royal family had more dangerous enemies that that gang of infants Marco and Star had faced earlier. 

The king got up off the bed signaling to the guard to open the portal. “You may not want anything right now but the offer still stands. If you wish for anything that we can give you then do not hesitate to ask. I will leave you now, I have many kingly things to do.” The king walked towards the portal and had a whole leg in before he turned around. 

“One more thing, Marco,” he said using the boy’s name for the first time. “I wish to thank you for taking on this duty of protecting Star. Not many would willingly house her knowing what they were to be up against. With that being said I have another request.” The man’s voice changed, becoming more serious and grave.

“Please do not fail. She is our only daughter and the most important person in our lives. Make sure she is safe.” With that the king gave Marco a sad smile and disappeared through the portal. The guard followed him, leaving Marco alone to digest what had just happened.

Beep, Beep, Beep

Marco was jostled from his flashback by his secondary alarm. Cursing to himself he jumped out of bed to prepare for the day. He had to get to school early so he could do his daily routine of seeing Jackie every morning.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this part is a bit awkward, this was when I didn't really know what I wanted to do with the story. So please forgive the chapter, I swear it gets really interesting later on.
> 
> Already got a Kudos, I think that's good? \\_('-')_/ Again im new to this site. Feel free to leave a comment or more kudos ;). 
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy this next chapter. Also I will start adding notes at the end by chapter four, right now there is not much going on.

Chapter 2.  
Him and Star were walking to school, Star was talking excitedly to him about a dream she had had. Something about fighting Ludo using only a laser puppy. Suddenly she asked, “What about you? Did ya have any awesome dreams” 

Marco looked down thinking of his recurring dream, or nightmare he should say since he woke up from it sweating and out of breath. Star looked at him worriedly, “Did you have that nightmare again?”

“Yeah, I don’t understand why i keep having it, or what it means. And i’m having it more often. It used to be once in awhile but now its every other night.”

“Don’t worry i’m sure it’s just stress getting to your head. I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about.”

Marco looked at his best friend. Star was such a good friend to him. They had been friends for about a year now and while they had some rough patches they had always been able to recover from it. The short blond looked up at him with blue eyes filled with concern . Star looked like she did every other day. She had her hair down to her knees which were covered by striped blue stockings ending in her pink boots that she always wore. She was also wearing a colorful striped tank top which was covering a teal dress. Marco couldn’t help but noticing how attractive she was. She always had a pep in her step, and a twinkle in her eye. While she looked like a sweet innocent girl, Marco knew that she was incredibly strong for her size and could kick serious ass. She never failed to make him happy, one time Marco was having a seriously rough day where nothing seemed to go right. Star had tried everything she could to cheer him up, eventually resulting to being swallowed by a fish she was trying to juggle. And here she was trying to cheer him up again. He couldn’t help but be thankful that she came into his life.

She tapped him lightly on the forehead, “Earth to Marcooo. Stop spacing out ya weirdo, were gonna be late for school.” She was right they had about ten minutes until Jackie got to school. This was the day that he talked to her. Well that he had a conversation with her. Marco having had a crush on Jackie since kindergarten had only recently gotten up the courage to speak to her. Usually it was one or two words followed by a lot of uhs and uhms. Today he would finally get up his courage and talk to her. 

They arrived with minutes to spare. While he waited Marco walked over to his locker and got his books out, putting them in his backpack. After he had made sure that he had all the books he needed he slung his backpack on his shoulder and leaned against the locker. Kids were starting to file in many of them stopping by their lockers just like he did. Some distance away he saw his friends Alfonso and Ferguson. They were staring at a girl who was coming their way, as she passed them Ferguson lifted his shirt showing his gut with a face painted on it. From this distance Marco couldn’t hear what he said but he could see that Ferguson was making his stomach talk. The girl, looking disgusted, slapped Ferguson’s face and then his stomach before walking away. 

Marco chuckled to himself then felt a thud next to him. Star had leaned against the locker next to him facing the other direction. She was staring at the parking lot where a black, long haired boy was sitting on the hood of his beat up car playing the keytar. Just last year the sound of Oscar jamming out would have sent students running with their ears covered in pain. Over the summer he had gotten better, much better. There were a few people who enjoyed his music, one of them being star. 

“I still don’t get why you like him. He doesn’t do anything but complain about his mom and play the keytar.” Marco said leaning his head on Star’s. They used to be the same height but over the summer Marco had hit a growth spurt that made him almost a head taller than her. At first Star complained that he was taller than her and that Marco gave her such a hard time. But she had come to like it when Marco put his head on hers. 

“He’s just so dreamy,” Star said in a whisper,”But you know i don’t want to date him or anything, I just like the eye candy.” 

Marco scoffed, he knew Star had gotten over her crush for Oscar. She asked him out once and found out that they had absolutely nothing in common. He just liked giving her a hard time for it.

“Besides at least I had the guts to ask him out. You can’t even get a sentence out when you are around her.” She turned around looking up at him. “Sorry.” She said when she noticed the look in his eyes.

“It’s alright. It’s not like you’re wrong. But that will change today, because today I will hold a conversation with her,” he said puffing his chest out.

“Haha, well you better get ready because here she comes.” Marco gasped and quickly turned around, completely missing the eye roll that star gave him. Marco lost sight of everything else as he spotted her. Jackie Lynn Thomas, in Marco’s opinion the most beautiful girl in school. He watched as she got closer, her platinum blond hair floating behind her as she rode in on her skateboard. She was wearing her usual white shirt with green collar and sleeves. She also was wearing white knee high socks with jean shorts that while they might have gone out of style years ago were coming back in because of her. Around her neck was a seashell necklace. She slowed down as she neared Marco even going as far as to get off her skateboard.

“Hey Marco, hey Star,” She said. Star replied instantly but it took Marco a bit until he could give a small hi. 

‘Man up Diaz, she’s just like any other girl. Think of her like Star, you’re so open with star. Be the same with Jackie. 

“YOU LOOK PRETTY TODAY”, he shouted. ‘What the fuck are you doing Diaz?’ he asked himself ‘I don’t know it just happened.’ He replied.

Jackie blushed a little, “Oh t-thank you. You look really good too Marco. Red looks really good on you.” 

Could he believe his ears? Was Jackie Lynn Thomas, THE Jackie Lynn Thomas saying that he looked good? Marco could have just died right then and there. The hottest girl in school just said that she thought that he, the “safe kid” looked good. ‘Quick say something’, his mind yelled, springing him into action.

Act cool he thought, just say thanks and then go on from there. So naturally the first thing he did was fall. He gave a yelp as he hit the cold tile, wondering what just happened. Then he felt a hand on his arm pulling him up. He got up and looked to see that it was Jackie lifting him up.

“Are you ok?” she said concern in her voice.

She cares if I got hurt or not, Marco thought. Then quickly responded as he realized that he had been silent.

“Yeah i’m fine, just got a little dizzy.”  
“Oh, are you ok? Do you need to go to the nurse's office?”

Why so you can do a check up on me? For whatever reason Marco’s thoughts turned to Jackie wearing a sexy nurse outfit asking him where it hurt. He shook his head clearing his head, this was not the time for that. 

“N-no i’m fine, thanks. Guess I fell pretty hard for you huh?” he cringed, his face getting redder as he beat himself for using the cheesiest line ever. ‘You dumbass! What in the actual hell were you thinking?!’ ‘I wasn’t ok? I don’t know what the fuck i’m doing, help!’

He looked up to see Jackie blushing almost as much as he was. Oh god he embarrassed her. She probably thinks that he was such a creep. But before he could explain she smiled. Oh my God she’s so beautiful. 

“That was a good one.” she said still smiling. She frowned and noticed that she was still holding on to his arm. Quickly taking her hand off him she picked up her skateboard. “Well I gotta go meet Janna. I’ll see you later Marco.”

“Yeah see ya.” He watched as she threw the board onto the ground and jumped on it; riding away. 

“Did you see that Star? I actually talked to Jackie Lynn Thomas, and she talked back to me! I can’t believe it.”

“Yeah, great you talked to a girl. Whoopdie fucking doo.” Marco looked at her in shock. She almost never cursed and the fact that she seemed less than thrilled for him talking to his crush for the first time angered him. 

“What’s wrong with you? This is huge for me; i’ve never talked to Jackie before, much less flirt with her. What’s your problem?” 

“I just don’t think that it’s such a big deal. I mean you talk to girls all the time, why is she so different?” Star asked.

“Because she is different, Star. She’s nice, and smart..”

“So am I and I have magical powers, and helloooo? Future queen of a whole dimension anyone?” She replied throwing her hands in the air. Star was getting upset now.

“Well she also doesn’t go on dangerous adventures,” Marco started taking a step towards Star. “She’s also beautiful and perfect and I don’t know why you are so upset.”

“You don’t think I’m beautiful?” her voice broke. She had her head down so Marco couldn’t see what her face looked like but he knew he had hurt her. He didn’t know why she was making such a big deal out of this, or why he said what he did. But he knew that he had hurt her and that was all that mattered right now.

“Star it’s not that, of course you are beautiful, I was just…”

“Just what, Marco? You were just comparing me to Jackie?” Marco was scared now, Star looked at him betrayal and hurt on her face. But that wasn’t the only thing; her eyes which were normally blue were now green. “Jackie is so purfect, who could ever hope to measure up to her?” She was crying now, tears streaming profusely down her face. Marco didn’t know what to do he wasn’t trying to compare her and Jackie. He knew he had to say something though. He couldn’t just let Star think that he had meant to hurt her.

“Star, please liste…” Before he could get another word out she ran. Marco wanted to chase after her but his legs wouldn’t move. He wouldn’t even know what to say to her; he was so confused on what was going on. All he could do is stare at where she was, hoping that everything would be ok.


	3. Chapter 3:

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So just a heads up this chapter is kinda short, I just wanted to add some things before I got to the real story which, unfortunately, starts in the next chapter. I hope you guys enjoy it if you are thinking about dropping this story please just give me until the next chapter. Trust me, a lot of shit happens.
> 
> Anyways thanks for the support so far, if you have any suggestions for me feel free to leave a comment; otherwise thanks so much and enjoy.

Star was hunched in a closet crying. She didn’t know why but Marco’s words had hurt her. He just didn’t see her like he saw Jackie. The way he used her full name whenever referring to her, it just made Star sick every time. It wasn’t like Star liked Marco, at least not more than a friend, but sometimes she just wished that he would see her like he saw Jackie. That being said his words still hurt her. She felt a pain in her chest and gasped. It felt like she was being stabbed and a new wave of tears came.

‘Get a grip on yourself,’ a part of her said, ‘you are fucking queen to be of Mewni and here you are crying like a little girl who lost her favorite doll. Get over yourself.’ Oddly enough the voice sounded like her mother, even though her mother had never cussed in front of Star. Some time passed with Star just sitting there trying to stop herself from sobbing before she got up. She left the broom closet and walked across the hall into the bathroom. There she washed her face to get rid of some of the blotchiness. Marco might not think that she is beautiful or anything but Star still wanted to look her best. Suddenly the door burst open.

Star turned and saw a raven haired girl, wearing a cheerleader’s outfit walk in. Brittney Wong, most popular girl in school and captain of the cheerleading squad looked at Star with a face of disgust.

“What are you doing here?” the cheerleader asked.

Innocently Star replied, “Nothing, just finishing up.” She didn’t want Brittney to know that she had been crying. 

“Well hurry up, i need to fix my hair,” As if she needed the whole bathroom to fix her hair. Nevertheless Star left the restroom. She looked at the clock closest to her; she had missed her first two classes and was running late for the third one. ‘Already missed three classes why not just miss the rest of them?’ Star thought to herself. She knew that she shouldn’t skip school but she wasn’t really up to sitting next to Marco all day; not while the fight was still fresh in her mind. She started walking home, for the first time by herself.

 

__________________________

 

Marco was worried. Star hadn’t shown up for any of their classes today, that wasn’t like her. He knew that he had hurt her this morning but he didn’t see why she should skip because of it. He still didn’t understand what was going on. He had spent his first two classes replaying the incident in his head wondering where he had gone wrong. Probably saying she wasn’t good looking was one thing, but him and Star were friends nothing more. He just did not understand why she was angry with him. He sighed and looked at the clock, there was 15 more minutes until fourth period ended. After school he would find Star and talk to her.

After school ended he raced home. He couldn’t wait anymore he needed to talk to Star. After slamming the front door closed he raced upstairs. He took a moment to drop off his stuff and compose himself. He knocked on Stars door.

“Come in” He heard. He opened the door just enough to poke his head in. He looked around Star’s room eyeing the stairs that led to the second and third floor. When she had first moved here Star had deemed her room unsuitable for a princess. So she used a spell to make it more… her style. It ended up adding a large turret to the left side of the house, and contained many things that Star needed, such as her mirror, a large fluffy bed, and an amazing assortment of weapons. 

He looked at her bed to see her lying there with her spell book open. The page it was turned to showed pictures of the correct forms for some spell, Marco couldn’t make out what spell it was but that wasn’t important right now. He walked in a little further, Star didn’t look up.

“Hey, could we, um, talk for a bit?” He was nervous, he felt like this conversation was the most important one he would ever have. In a way it was. If he fucked up then his friendship with Star would be done for.

“Yeah sure,” Star kept her tone flat; not wanting to show any emotion. It was a feat that her mother would be proud of, but Star wasn’t doing it for her mom. Star didn’t want Marco to see how much pain she was in. While she was pissed at him she also didn’t want to worry him. 

Star sat up and Marco made his way over, sitting next to her. He sighed, and opened his mouth to speak.

“I’m sorry.” The words surprised Marco, because they weren’t his. He looked up at the mewman girl and saw that she was crying. His body moved of its own accord. He wrapped his arms around her, and she embraced him back sobbing into his shoulder. Marco had no idea what was going on or while she was crying. He just knew that he had hurt her and all he wanted to do was make her feel better. 

After she had calmed down a bit Marco spoke up, “I-I don’t understand, Star, what are you sorry about?”

She pulled back and looked at him. “I over-reacted and was silly, I know you weren’t comparing me to Jackie, I was just upset about something else and I took it out on you.” She gazed up at him, hoping she had diffused the situation. Marco had no idea where that had come from. He hadn’t even realized that he was comparing her and Jackie.

“Ok? Star I didn’t mean to compare you to Jackie. I’m really sorry that I hurt you; i would never want that. Star im sorry.” Star heard the sincerity in his voice. She knew that he never meant to hurt her. She just wanted this to be over and go back to being with her bestie. 

“Thanks Marco, apology accepted. Now, hugsss.” With that she threw her arms around the boy. Happy that he had his friend back he wrapped his arms around her. 

“So what are you looking at?” He asked trying to diffuse the tension still built up in him. 

“Oh it’s this new spell that Glossaryck said I should look at. I haven’t really been reading it.” Marco nodded as he listened. The spellbook, one that had been in Star’s family for generations contained everything. All of the spells her ancestors had created, their history, their bloodline, there was even a section that contained deadly spells. Star had yet to be granted access to that section, thanks to her mother and Glossaryck. Speaking of which where was the little blue man.

Marco looked around the room, but before he could ask the genie like man appeared. 

“Did someone say my name?” Glossaryck was about three inches tall. He was blue all over his body, and had a large purple gemstone implanted in his long forehead. He was also sporting a white beard that split into two at the end. The tiny man, if you could call him that, was hovering above the book, sitting cross legged. 

“Just showing Marco the new spell.” 

“Ah Stampede of the Warnicorns that’s right. Since you should have taken a look at the incantation dance needed for it why don’t we practice outside?”

“I don’t know. Since I already know the moves I shouldn’t have to practice it right?” Truth be told Star didn’t know the incantation. She had been worrying the whole time about the fight between her and Marco, and since they had made up and were friends again she just wanted to hang out with him. But Marco and Glossaryck were of the same mind.

“Star don’t you think that you should at least make sure you can do it? Just in case you get a movement wrong or something?” Having just gotten out of a fight Marco didn’t want to overstep his bounds, but he knew that Star’s magic training was important. Nevertheless he cringed at the look that Star gave him. While she didn’t want to practice she knew that she couldn’t disagree with Marco and Glossaryck. So she decided to give in.

“Fine let’s go outside so I can practice; but afterwards I want nachos” 

Marco chuckled, “Alright I’ll make you some nachos.” 

“Yay”, with that she skipped out the door leaving Marco to lug the heavy book downstairs and outside.

_________________________________________________________


	4. Saudade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Couple of Starco moments, and Major character death. enjoy :)

Chapter 4: Saudade Part 1

 

“Marco! Marco! Marco! MarcOooo. MARCO!” 

“What Star?” Marco replied in annoyance.

“I’m so bOored. Entertain meeee. MArcoooo.” the princess called to him from his bed. She was lying across looking at Marco upside down. Meanwhile he was sitting at his desk trying his hardest to focus. But a certain Mewman girl prevented that.

“Star im trying to get this done, this paper is due tomorrow you know.” Star frowned, she had already finished the paper. Granted she knew that she wasn’t going to get a good grade on it but Earth school wasn’t important to her; it’s not like they were going to prepare her for becoming queen. She turned herself around, resting on her elbows.

“Ugh, I don’t know why you work so hard, it’s not like school is important. I mean it’s not even fun. But you know what is fun? Fighting monsters! Let’s go.” Star had gotten up and grabbed her wand, ready for an adventure. 

Marco turned to look at her, a smile on his face but seriousness in his eyes. He loved how energetic Star was, and honestly would rather go into another dimension and fight monsters with her. Unfortunately he couldn’t; while to her school wasn’t important, not everyone was a princess. Marco knew he had to work hard to get good grades, and to be able to get a job he wanted. The thing is, he didn’t know what he wanted. While him and Star’s class had a meeting with the guidance counselor, Mr. Candle, about their futures. Iit had turned out that he was a puppet for Tom, Star’s jealous ex-boyfriend, to make sure that Marco and Star weren’t dating. Marco had ended up being kidnapped by Tom after lying and saying that he and Star had become smootch buddies; how nice if that were true. ‘Wait, where did that come from?’ Marco snapped himself out of is thoughts. 

“Star, I don’t like it as much as you do but I need to get good grades. To you it seems dumb, but to me it’s what decides my future.” He turned back around eager to get his essay done. He should have just said that the faster he got his essay done the faster they could hang out, but he honestly welcomed the cute distraction. Wait.

“Ugh it’s still dumb.” Star had walked over to where Marco was sitting. She leaned over his shoulder to get a look at what he had written. The essay was supposed to be about an influential scientist, and his or her impact on the field that they were dedicated to. Star had chosen an astrononeer, or something like that. She didn’t really remember who she wrote about, just someone whose first and last names sounded the same. She looked at the title of the paper and saw that it was about Charles Darwin? She didn’t have any clue who he was; but she knew that if Marco chose him this Charles did something good. 

Marco meanwhile was trying his hardest not to panic. The minute Star leaned over him he stiffened up, in more ways than one. She was pressing herself against him, and it made him respond in a way he had never responded before. ‘Why am I like this?’ he asked himself. ‘She’s just your friend, why is this happening.’ Marco needed to do something before Star noticed something. He didn’t know the physiology of Mewmans, or how much Star knew about that kind of stuff; but he really did not want to find out right now. 

Making an excuse that he needed to go to the bathroom, Marco ran out of his room. After he had slammed the door shut and made sure to lock it, he sat on the toilet. Resting his head in his hands he started to think. ‘It’s just because she is a girl, it doesn’t mean anything. He got like that around other girls.’ 

Marco had started noticing the girls around his school more, and his body had noticed them too. It was really awkward when at the most random times his body ‘got up’. It was mostly around Jackie. Whenever she passed him, or talked to him, Marco’s eyes just couldn’t stop from straying down to her form. She was slender but was filled out. But it wasn’t just Jackie, Marco had noticed how good looking Janna had gotten. Her skirt and boots, did wonders to Marco’s mind. But it wasn’t like he was attracted to Janna or anything. He knew that she was attractive, many of the guys at his school thought so. The same was with Star, Marco knew that she was attractive, especially so during a certain dance that they shared. 

‘It’s just natural. It’s nothing to be worried about.’ Marco didn’t even know why he was worried. Star and him were friends, there was absolutely nothing to be worried about. It was just his body reacting to being around a cute girl, that was it. He caught himself again, he realized just how often he thought of Star being cute or beautiful. Suddenly he heard a knock that made him jump.

“Marco are you ok? You’ve been in there for a while.” It was Star, just checking up on him. 

“Yeah I’m fine, I’l-I’ll be out in a minute.” He quickly got up and checked over himself, making sure that everything was looking normal. Satisfied he unlocked the door and walked back to his room. Star was lying on his bed reading one of the comics he had. He turned back to his desk, now more focused than before, and made quick work of his essay. 

_______________________________________________

Like he promised Star, once he finished his essay they went dimension hopping. Feeling a craving for something sweet Star took them to the ice cream dimension.

“Everything here is made out of ice cream, plants, animals, everything.” Just as she said that Marco saw a deer in the distance. Or at least what looked like a deer, it was shaped like a deer, but the back was colored pink, it’s midsection white, and it’s front was brown. It had large, light brown antlers growing from its head. Marco squinted and thought he could see a crisscrossing pattern on them, much like that of a waffle cone. Its hooves were covered in hard chocolate with sprinkles on them. While the creature looked completely edible, Marco could not imagine eating such a beautiful creature. 

“Wow, this place is amazing.” he looked at Star, eyes shining. She smiled at him, “I’m glad you like it, now come on let’s get some ice cream.” Excitedly she took his hand and ran into a building which, oddly enough, was made out of ice cream. After they had each finished their large triple scoops, they headed off into the next dimension. This one was a water themed dimension. They didn’t stay very long because they weren’t able to hold their breaths long enough to explore around. So they headed to another dimension that Star had in mind. 

They landed inside a dark cave, or at least Marco thought it was a cave, he couldn’t really tell it was so dark. “This one might be more of your style, Marco” Before he could ask what she meant she grabbed his hand and led him out of the cave. 

The light blinded him for a moment, but when he regained his sight, what he saw blew him away. He looked out into the open space in front of him, and all he saw was trees. There were millions of them as far as he could see; reaching into the horizon. But not only were there so many of them, their leaves were colored oranges, reds, and yellows; as if it was fall and not spring. Above the trees was a bright blue sky, peppered with fluffy white clouds. The leaves swayed a bit in the gentle breeze, and a few birds lifted from their perches. He looked down and could see a couple of elk like creatures walking towards him. They were looking up at him as if fascinated, as if they had never seen a human before.

“Wow”, was all he could say. He didn’t know what to say, all he could do was… feel.

“It’s always like this here,” the princess told him. “Mom, Dad, and I would come here sometimes to have a picnic. We would sit here for hours enjoying the sky, petting the elk, and just enjoying ourselves. No responsibilities, no kingdom to run, just… us.” She looked out into the forest, sadness in her eyes. Her parents had become so busy recently between trying to feed their growing kingdom and keeping peace with the other kingdoms, all the while having daily duties that they both had there had been little time for them to have a picnic. 

Snapping out of her revere of the past she grabbed Marco’s hand. “Come on.”, she said and rushed down the cliff. As they raced to the bottom Star couldn’t help but yell with glee. Marco laughed and joined her in the fun. When they had reached the bottom both were somewhat sweaty and were breathing heavily. 

“That was fun, Star. What now?” 

“Glad you asked becAuse” she paused and casted a quick spell. When the pink cloud of glitter had disappeared a large wicker basket was left on the ground with a folded blanket set neatly on top. They rolled out the blanket, and quickly took out the food in the basket. Having laid everything out Marco took inventory. He saw that Star had made some of his favorite mexican dishes such as Elote, Enchiladas, and his favorite Carnitas Enchilada soup. He saw that she had also laid out some of her favorite Earth foods, such as pizza, tacos, and potatoes. There was also a pile of Mewman corn, which Marco knew was the best corn in all of the universe. 

“You made all this?” Marco asked, he quickly took a spoonful of carnitas and tasted it. It was just like his mother’s. “Oh my God Star this is amazing! How did you do all of this?”

Star blushed, “Well I had some help from your mom. But we’ve both had a stressful week, what with Ludo coming back with a wand, and the recent monster attacks. Plus we haven’t been able to hang out as much because of school. So I thought that it would be nice to have a nice picnic.” she finished gesturing to the food around them. arco had been busy for the last month trying to get all the homework they had. Plus he took time to help Star with her homework; so she thought that he might need a little break. Something that would help him relax. She knew that it had been a right choice to bring him to the forest; few knew about it’s existence. He looked so amazed when he had seen the trees, and just know tasting the food that she helped make and seeing his face light up; Star knew that she had made the right choice in bringing him here.

“I love it Star”, Marco said smiling. He leaned over towards her, and at first she thought that he was going to do something, but then he just wrapped his arms around her. Slightly disappointed but happy at the contact of her friend, she hugged him back. After what some might consider more than a friendly hug, they pulled apart and started eating. 

__________________________________________

After gorging themselves, Star pointed her wand at the leftovers, with a pink blast the scraps disappeared; along with the wicker basket. All that was left was the cloth that they were laying on. 

Star and Marco lay side by side on their backs. The sun was warm against their faces and the soft breeze lulled them to sleep. 

__________________________________________

Marco woke up, sensing something. He didn’t know what had woke him but it seemed foreign, as if it wasn’t a part of the forest. But he was distracted by movement. This one immediately in front of him. He looked down to see Star resting against him. Somehow, while they were asleep, his arm had gotten under her head, and she had wrapped her arm around his waist. He also felt that she had one leg over his, and he had one over her; as if they were battling in their sleep for dominance. As close as she was to him, Marco noticed every detail on her face. Her skin was soft and smooth. There were no blemishes, freckles, moles or anything on her perfect face. Her cheeks were stamped by Star’s hearts. He had always been curious as to why she had them, but had never thought to ask her. He knew they glowed when she was channeling powerful magic, as she had done when she rescued him from Toffee. But his gaze drifted from her cheeks to her lips. He soft, pink lips here slightly apart; allowing Star to breathe. But they were also slightly curved upward around the edges, as if she was having a good dream. And as if she sensed him looking at her she spoke. It was a soft and quiet whisper, so soft that had he not been so close to her he would never had heard it. But soft as it was, it carried tremendous weight. 

“M-Marco,” That one word, that one single word captured all of his attention. She was dreaming of him, he thought stunned. And it looked like it was a good dream. Again as if she sensed his thoughts Star shifted a little, moving closer to Marco. They were so close that Marco could feel her breath. As it was he could feel how warm she was through their clothes. He felt a beat near his chest. He knew that it wasn’t his because his was currently in his throat. He looked at Star again, her face a mere inches away from his. He was moving closer now, he didn’t exactly know why but he knew that it felt right. He was so close to her now, breathing in the air that she gave out. She smelled like a mix of candy and fresh air. The smell drew him closer to her still, until their lips were barely brushing each other.

*CRASH* 

The sound was enough to startle them both. Star jumped up nearly smacking Marco in the head and quickly looked around.

“What was that?” She asked. 

Marco unable to control his heartbeat, and out of breath replied,”I don’t know but it came from over there.” he pointed to his left. They leaped up ready for action. What they saw was a large white cloud coming from the ground, and rising to the air. They both knew that this wasn’t natural; something was messing with the forest. 

“Come one,” Marco said, this time being the one that grabbed Stars hand; and dragging her towards the smoke.

“How long were we asleep for?” Star asked. Marco looked up at the orange sky seeing that the sun was just beginning to set. 

“I would say a few hours at least.” 

“What’s causing the smoke?” 

“My best guess, is there is a fire of some sort.”

“That’s silly, there wouldn’t be a fire here. It never storms and there are no leaves on the ground. The only thing that could cause a fire is…”

They stopped, dead in their tracks. In front of them they saw what had caused the forest fire.

“Monsters” they said in unison. There were dozens of them from what Marco could see. They were all gathered in a clearing. Marco looked at the ground and saw that the ground was fillede with tree stumps and scorch marks. There were a number of dragon’s; which would have been the cause of the fire and marks, two of them were locked in cages, while one was being poked by spears onto the edge of the clearing. The monsters with the spears were widely shaped humanoids. Their torso extending further than that of a normal human, but that was in order to hold the two heads on its shoulders. They shouted something at the dragon and gave it a sharp prod, causing the dragon to let loose a stream of fire. Marco looked past them, all he saw was smoldering ruins of a once beautiful forest. 

“Why are they cutting dow…”

Star gasped. “How dare they!” her voice started to get dangerously low. “How dare they destroy my forest!” Star started marching towards the monsters, her wand started glowing. Instead of its usual pink, it was glowing green. Marco didn’t have time to worry about that right now, because Star was heading right into a death trap. What she hadn't seen was the two large minotaur like creatures, wielding battle axes, on the other side of the clearing. And in front of them was a chain of monsters, all wielding axes and chopping down the trees. Marco noticed that these monsters were attached with chains between their legs and their arms, which made it hard for them to chop down the trees. 

“That’s weird. I don’t remember monsters having slaves. Especially other monsters” He pushed that thought away, right now he had to get Star. She was at the edge of the clearing before she stopped. Marco caught up to her out of breath.

“Are you crazy?” he huffed,”Star, there are way too many monsters out there for us to fight.”

She scanned the burnt clearing taking inventory of all the monsters around her. She noticed the two Minotaurs to her right watching over a chain of monsters. To her left were a couple of other monsters poking a dragon, making it burn the nearby trees. 

Marco looked at Star and saw the determination and bloodlust in her eyes. He didn’t like that look, he knew that she wanted a fight. He noticed something else, her wand was pulsing now, pulsing an acid green color. They had to get out of here before they were noticed. 

“Star I think we should leave.” Star looked at him, anger flashing in her eyes. 

“Listen. These monsters are destroying this forest. We have to stop them before they destroy the whole place.” Marco knew she was right, they couldn’t just let the monsters destroy the forest. But at the same time he didn’t want her to get hurt, and there was a lot of monsters out there. He looked at Star again and she looked right back at him. 

“I’m not talking you out of this am I?” she shook her head. Then looked at the monsters and tightened her grip on her wand. Marco sighed and tensed up, preparing himself for a fight. 

_________________________________________________________

Garnax looked around the clearing. The six foot monster walked around making sure that everything was in order. As he passed the prisoners, cutting down the trees, he stroked one of the horns that curled down to his mouth, much like that of a rams. As muscular as he was the ram monster only carried a whip, which he used against one of the axemen that had started to slack off.

He gave a guttural growl to the creature, and the smaller monster immediately resumed working on the tree. They did not have any time to waste; the master wanted this forest cleared out as fast as possible. Not only did they need the wood, but they also needed the space. For what, the monster didn’t care as long as he got paid. 

He looked into the forest that had yet to be cleared out; he thought he heard rustling but decided that it must have been a forest creature. He turned his attention to the dragon. The beast was being goaded into burning the forest floor, thus making it easier for the monsters hoofs, claws, and assortment of feet to walk across. 

He heard the rustling again. This time he decided to check out the source of the noise. He walked up to the bushes and started rooting around in them. Suddenly his hand caught something, it was soft and smooth. He pulled up to see that he was holding a hand, which was holding a wand. Suddenly his vision filled with green, and then black.

The other monsters noticed their overseer fall, and suddenly there was chaos. From behind the trees there were three blasts of green light, each blast hit a different monster, first the two minotaurs and then one of the double headed monsters. The other double headed monster managed to dodge a fourth blast from Stars wand. He blocked the next blast with his staff, and saw his friends getting up. They weren’t injured badly, they were just stunned. Suddenly a boy appeared from the trees. The monster still standing saw a flash of red from his right head before that side when dark. Then he felt a pain in his stomach, doubling over and dropping his spear he realized that he had been kicked. 

Star appeared from the trees. Seeing that her spells had only knocked down the monsters she decided to hurry. She walked over to where the chained monsters were, and with a quick blast freed them. Without saying thanks they ran into the smoldering field. Star turned her attention back to the other monsters. The minotaurs had gotten up and the overseer was beginning to stir. She looked over to see Marco karate chopping a double headed monster, its twin laying on the ground behind Marco. She turned her attention to the minotaurs.

“Narwhal blast!” she cried sending a grey narwhal flying at the minotaur on the left. Again this didn’t do much but stagger him. She fired another Narwhal blast at the second minotaur, but he was prepared for it. He caught the Narwhal by the midsection and flung it over its shoulder. He advanced on Star drawing his double sided axe out. She took a step back, and then backflipped as the monster swung at her. She kept firing different spells at the monster, “Narwhal blast, Rainbow blast, shooting Star explosion.” No matter what spell she used it only stopped the monster, and while he did seem a little more scratched up it was clear that her spells were too weak to go against him. 

“Shit, time to pull out the big guns. Shimmering Destructo Canon!” she shouted. Her want transformed into a triangular bazooka. She pointed at the monster, which continued advancing on her not afraid of her spells. Star pulled the trigger and shot three powerful heart shaped shells at the monster. The monster disappeared in a mushroom cloud of pink. When the smoke had cleared she saw that the monster was on his back, unconscious. 

“Yes! Oh crap!” She ran after seeing the second minotaur rushing her. The beast was forgoing his axe in favor of his horns. She dodged to the right at the last second, causing the monster to slam into a nearby tree. This gave Star a moment to see Marco taking on the ram beast with the whip. 

“How are you doing?’ she called. 

“Just, ugh, fine” he replied taking a hit. Star winced seeing that the whip had caused a gash across his arm. She was worried but knew that Marco could take care of himself. She returned her attention to her opponent. The minotaur had recovered from the shock and was preparing to charge her again. This time she stood her ground. The minotaur raced towards her, and just like before Star dodged to one side. But having this trick used on him once before the minotaur had stuck both of his hands out. With an oof, Star was thrown to the ground. She was lying on her back having a really hard time recovering her breath.

Suddenly there was a hand around her throat. She was dragged up and slammed against a tree by the beast. The impact caused her to gasp in pain. There was a bit of blood trickling out from the corner of her mouth, she had bitten her tongue.

Marco took a flying kick at the monster before him. The beast used his horns to block Marco’s kick, but thanks to Marco’s training he kicked off from the horns, and back flipped himself away from the beast. While karate was his primary style of fighting, over the last year he had also taken up Krav Maga and gymnastics. He figured as much as he and Star got into trouble a little extra training wouldn’t hurt. And it certainly didn’t; not only did he learn many useful skills from his classes, but he had also gotten stronger and had bulked up. This was the only reason he was able to hold his own against the ram like monster. He ducked as the monster swung its whip at him. The whip was a problem at medium range, Marco had to get in close in order to have a chance of beating the monster. 

Marco ran towards the monster as fast as he could. The monster sensing his intentions started to back away, but was caught by a running punch from Marco. Despite his size the monster staggered back a bit, surprised by the boy’s strength. The monster smiled, and dropped his whip. Marco was surprised to see the beast give up his weapon, but widened his stance. Among the Karate, and Krav Maga Marco had also learned a bit of boxing; not a lot but enough to know how to ready himself. 

The monster took the first swing, a left hook. Marco ducked easily under it, took a step forward, and drove his fist into the monster's gut. The monster backed up again but quickly regained his balance; then he started moving to the right. Marco being right handed wouldn’t be able to get a good shot at the monster. So Marco started moving to his left in order to cut the beast off. The beast stopped and stared at the boy, recognizing an experienced fighter. He gave the boy a nod of understanding and respect and then charged. Marco was on guard however. Each of the monster’s blows landed on his arms, which were protecting his face. Each punch hit Marco like a brick wall, but he knew that he had to hold out. As strong as the punces were one good one right to his face would mean the end of the fight. Nonetheless he had to do something, he couldn’t wait for the monster to tire itself out. Thinking quickly he shoved his arms outwards, forcing the monster to halt its assualt for a split second. 

That second gave Marco enough time to do a backflip kick. He launched himself of the ground, arching his back and extending his right foot. The foot caught the monster in the chest and Marco thought he heard something crack. He landed the flip at a crouch and used this to spring forward. He gave the monster no time to recover as Marco flung a flurry of punches, each one caught the monster in the solar plexus preventing the beast from regaining his breath. He landed an uppercut directly to the beast’s face causing the monster’s nose to break and gush blood. The fight went on each trading blows until finally the beast went down. Marco was bleeding from his nose, a cut on his lip and above his eye. It felt like he had a couple of broken ribs and his left leg hurt so much it was hard to stand on it. He wiped the blood out of his eye and looked towards Star. He was just in time to see the minotaur charge her with his arms out. He watched in horror as his friend went down. He started to move as the monster slammed her against the tree causing her to spit blood. 

Hurting from his leg and ribs Marco staggered towards the pair. He broke into a sprint as he saw the monster raise its arm, getting ready for a punch. Before he could get to them Marco saw the monster jerk and Stars head snap to the left, staring directly at Marco. It felt like he himself had taken the hit as he saw the princesses dead expression. He tackled the monster and spinning about flung the creature as far from Star as he could manage. 

He jumped to where the princess was lying on the ground motionless. Oh God she wasn’t moving, she wasn’t breathing! He put two fingers to her neck and felt, no pulse. He then put his head next to her mouth hoping to hear something. But, silence. Immediately he went into shock; he didn’t know what to do his best friend in the entire universe wasn’t moving or breathing. His mind was blank and he couldn’t do anything about it. She was, dead. Suddenly he started sobbing. His tears ran down his face, stinging his cut lips and mixing with his blood.

“St-Star?,” he sobbed. He had lost her. The one person whom he cared about the most was gone. Marco didn’t know what to do, half of him had hoped that she was unconscious and that he had been wrong. Part of him hoped that she would wake up and ask why he was crying.

He looked at the girl again, her hair splayed out around her head like a halo. “Star, wake up. Please, Star wake up!” he just couldn’t accept the fact of what was happening. His whole world was crumbling apart. All he felt was pain welling up inside of him wanting to be released. He couldn’t hold it back, “STAR!” he lifted his head and cried, letting all of his pain, despair, and sadness to be released into that one name. A name that would never be called upon again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *sobs* what? I'm not crying. Just because I wrote it doesn't mean I don't feel it. If anything that is what helps me write, I put myself in the situations the characters are in and then write accordingly. 
> 
> So I hope you guys liked the chapter, as I forewarned there was a major character death, bet some of ya didn't know it was Star though. I didn't even really know until I started writing. I kinda wing it as I go. 
> 
> So if you are wondering why my notes are so shitty right now, I just got out of my third class for the day and am about to drop, so I apologize for my scattered writing. 
> 
> Anyways, sorry for not updating for a while I have had a lot of things going on. But I do hope that you enjoyed this chapter, leave a comment down below with some suggestions or what you thought. Anything helps to be honest. Thanks again I will see you guys in the second part of Saudade.


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